Playing-card



(N0 Model.)

THE PAST 2 SheetsSheet 1. W. DOERPLINGER.

PLAYING CARD.

N0. 509 88l. Patented Dec. 5,1898. z grz.

' FIRST ROW SECOND ROW THIRD ROW A V C THE PRESENT THE FUTURE FOURTH ROWFIFTH ROW SIXTH ROW- DHNG ER Love Matters General Hdvice W iflJQSSQS IWllimzli'oezflifyez 2 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.) e

W. DO-BRFLINGER.

PLAYING CARD.

mm $087k? 0 THE NATIONAL umomupnmu cow'luw.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM DOERFLINGER, OF LA (dROSSE, WISCONSIN.

PLAYING-CARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 509,881, dated December5, 1893.

Application filed February 18, 1893- Serial No. 462,871. (No specimens.)

specification.

My invention relates to playing cards, and has special reference to thatclass thereof employed for the purpose of telling fortunes.

The objects of my invention are to provide a pack of cards preferablyhaving such characters on their faces as the ordinary playingcards andto be grouped according to such characters to represent difierentevents, for instance, the past, present, future, love-matters, generaladvice, and danger; and furthermore to provide the backs of said cardswith a series of aligning spaces, each space being numbered so that whenthese cards are arranged in their respective groups and reversed thereading matter contained in the spaces will form different sentencespurporting to represent the events that have been or are to take place.

Referring to the drawings:-Figure 1 is a general face View of one cardof each group. Fig. 2 is a back view of the four cards of one group. 7

The pack consists in this instance of twenty-four cards, the same beinggiven any shape desired but preferably oblong as shown. Thesetwenty-four cards are divided into six groups of four each, the cards ofeach group being of different suits, as hearts, spades, clubs anddiamonds, and in the first group I in the present instance have aces asindicating the group to which it belongs; in the second group I employkings as the indicative character of the group; in the third, queens; inthe fourth, jacks; in the fifth, ten-spots; and in the sixth,nine-spots. the cards are divided into twenty-four spaces by means oftransverse black lines, and these spaces are numbered from 1 to 4 byprominent characters or numerals, the numeral 1 appearing at some pointof the series of spaces six times consecutively, and the remainingnumerals being arranged in such manner that when any four cards of agroup are laid face down at some one point the aligning spaces of thefour cards will bear the numerals 1, 2,

The backs of 3 and 4, and such are supposed to indicate the fortune ofthat particular group. For instance to play the game the cards are firstshufiied, and may be cut by the person whose fortune is to be told,after which the fortuneteller takes the first card, which may be a kingand as seen in the drawings is employed in that group indicating thepresent, the words The present being preferably prin ted thereon in someconspicuous place, and we see at the top of the cards the words Secondrow so that we know that it belongs to the second row or group. Thiscard is laid face up on the table or playing-board, and the next cardmay be a queen, which belongs to the third group or row and is supposedto tell the future so that it is placed in the third row; the jackbelongs to the fourth row or that pertaining to love matters; the ace t0the first row or that pertaining to the past; the ten-spot to the fifthrow or that pertaining to general advice; and the nine-spot to the sixthrow or that pertaining to danger. When the cards have thus beenassembledin their respective rows they are then turned face down so thatthe black lines of the cards of each row or group will align. Thefortuneteller now glancing down the line of numerals of the first cardcomes to the group of the numerals 1, and then glancing at the remainingcards of the series ascertains in which line the numerals follow inregular sequence, such as 1, 2, 3 and 4. The fortune-teller then readsoff the fortune, which may be any arbitrary sentence. After reading thebacks of the cards of that group forming the past the fortune-tellerthen takes up that group indicating the present, then the groupindicating the future, then that pertaining to love-matters, followed bythat of general advice, and finally the group supposed to indicatedanger that may threaten the person.

Itwill be seen that a great number of combinations maybe formed by thevarious relative locations of the cards of the group, each one readingdiiferent from the other, and that in this manner considerable amusementmay be afforded to a company.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- 1. The hereindescribedfortune-telling pack of cards, the same consisting of a seriesof groups the faces of which are provided with suitable indicatingcharacters whereby they may be identified as to their groups, and thebacks of which are provided with a series of spaces, each spacecontaining reading-matter, some one line of reading-matter of all of thecards of a group being designed to produce sense regardless of therelative positions 00- cupied by the cards of that group, substantiallyas specified.

2. The herein described fortune-telling pack of cards, the sameconsisting of a series of groups, each group comprising four cards andhaving on the front face thereof the ordinary playing card signs orinsignia, the backs of the cards of each group being provided with aseries of transverse parallel lines forming intermediate spaces, each ofsaid spaces having a numeral, the numerals arranged from 1 to 4, thenumeral 1 appearing consecutively six times on each card of the groupand at a different point from Where it appears in the remaining cards ofthe group, and suitable reading-matter in said spaces so that when thecards are turned face down and with their backs uppermost there willalways be four of the lines of the cards of a group whose numbers willrun consecutively, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM DOERFLINGER.

WVitnesses:

JOHN HALIK, ANT. MEURER.

